Guj govt to dissolve PSU over corruption charges

The Gujarat government has decided to wind up the Gujarat State Land Development Corporation (GSLDC) following allegations of corruption and financial irregularities, a minister said Wednesday.

The government is in no mood to tolerate any irregularity, state Agriculture Minister R C Faldu told reporters in Gandhinagar.

Formed in 1978, the state-run GSLDC's main task was to provide technical and financial help to farmers in constructing farm ponds for their irrigation needs.

"Irregularities in GSLDC have come to the government's notice. Thus, in the interest of people, we have decided to dissolve the corporation," Faldu said.

The GSLDC's staff and machinery will be shifted to other departments to continue the entity's core work, he said.

In April this year, the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had raided the GSLDC's headquarters in Gandhinagar and recovered unaccounted cash worth Rs 56.50 lakh, Deputy Superintendent of Police D P Chudasama said.

Following the raid, five officials, including GSLDC's managing director K S Detroja and joint director K C Parmar, were arrested on charges of taking bribes from farmers who had applied for government grants under various schemes run by the corporation, he said.

In the last few months, the anti-graft agency raided several other district-level offices of the corporation and found financial irregularities, he said.

Over 25 cases were subsequently registered against GSLDC's employees across the state, Chudasama said.

In most of the cases, the ACB found that the corporation's officials presented forged bills for the construction of farm ponds, which only existed on paper, he added.